Wayne State Interview Questions
& Process

So first, we do a quick phone call to see if you're generally a good fit and if you're interested. Then, there's a technical assessment to check your skills. After that, we have two virtual interviews. One is with the team you'd be working with, to see how we vibe and check your expertise. The other is with the hiring manager, to talk about the bigger picture and what we expect. Finally, HR will chat with you about the money, benefits, and what it's like to work here. If all goes well with reference checks, you'll usually get an offer within about two weeks.

The first round was pretty basic, basically a resume review to see if my skills matched what they needed. Then the second round got more technical, focusing on my past projects. I had to go into detail about biological concepts and make sure I explained my bioinformatics pipelines accurately.

I had a Zoom call that was a casual chat with the hiring manager, then an in-person meeting with a four-person hiring committee, and then another set of in-person meetings with a large team, and then the senior director for the team (the last two were on the same day, back to back). The interviewers were all nice, and I thought the questions seemed appropriate for the position. The only turn off was that after a fairly lengthy interview process and waiting period after the interview, the notification that I didn't get the job came from an automated system, rather than the hiring manager, who was really helpful and kind throughout the process. Obviously, it's never fun to not get an offer, but after making it that far, it felt crummy to find out via a canned email and automated email address.

I applied for the job on Jan 3rd, and two weeks later I got called in for an interview. The committee included the Dean, Associate Dean, and the current Director for Business Affairs. It felt more like a conversation than a Q&A session. The interview lasted about an hour. A week and a half after that, HR from Wayne State called to say they went with another candidate. I was disappointed but appreciated the personal call instead of a generic email. It would have been helpful to get some feedback on why I wasn't selected, as that info is really valuable for improving. I think providing feedback to applicants would be a great addition to the interview process. Even though I didn't get an offer, I had a good experience overall.